The government says South African opposition leader, Julius Malema’s moral compass is twisted after he questioned why President Emmerson Mnangagwa was compensating white former commercial farmers whilst Zimbabweans lack basic necessities of life.
Malema on Wednesday told South African media that Mnangagwa is a sell-out. Speaking to Newsday over Malema’s jibes, Information ministry secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana claimed that the government is morally bound to compensate the white farmers for the infrastructure they built on the land:
Mr Malema’s comments are ill-informed and they betray a failure to grasp Zimbabwe’s policy regarding land reform.
But that’s quite understandable because when one plunges into the domestic affairs of a neighbour based on tittle-tattle on social media, their chances of getting it very wrong are amplified as is the case here.
Zimbabwe’s policy is a very fair one. Our policy is not to compensate for land, but for farm improvements. The money set aside by the government in the budget is to pay for that.
Now if anyone believes that it’s right not to compensate for a house, an irrigation system, barn, borehole or school, then their moral compass is skewed and we have to question their sense of right and wrong.